Trip Reports
Day #2 of the trek! The climbers are enjoying beautiful weather and trekked for about 5 hours today, continuing up the Vacas Valley leading up towards Aconcagua. They ended up at a camp called Casa de Piedra (House of Stone) where there is an old stone shepherds shelter. The camp is at the confluence of…
Climber Marcin Wlodarczyk called on behalf of the December 17th Aconcagua team who just set out from the mouth of the Vacas Valley. About six hours of hiking through a desert valley (reminiscent of parts of the Grand Canyon) they will arrive at “Pampas de Lenas,” the first camp on their approach, located at about…
The team picked up their climbing permits this morning in Mendoza and headed up into the Andes. They left the heat of summer in Mendoza, driving 3 hours or so up to the ski lodge at the Penitentes ski area where they spent their first night. They enjoyed a dinner and did their final organizing…
Our second Aconcagua team of the 2017-18 season has arrived and assembled in Mendoza, Argentina. Within the next couple of days, the team will travel into the heart of the Andes, en route to attempt to climb the tallest mountain in South America – Cerro Aconcagua. At 22,841′ (6961m), Aconcagua is the tallest peak outside…
The team descended to the Plaza de Mulas basecamp today, dropping nearly 6000 ft of elevation into the warm thick air of the lower mountain. Basecamp is quite comfortable with great food and pizza that tastes especially good after being up high on Aconcagua for several days. They are all enjoying the time at base…
Mountain Trip’s December 1 Team is on the summit of Aconcagua, the highest peak in the western hemisphere! A huge congratulations on a job well done. The weather has been beautiful, and they did great today. Mark and Joe are on the summit with Brian and Nils turned around with Dave just short of the…
They woke up early this morning to beautiful weather and are on the way to the summit now. Brian said this was perhaps the nicest summit day he’s seen! They texted at 9:20 am local time that they were at the Independencia Hut, and again at 11:40 am from “the cave” at the bottom of…
The team is at high camp tonight and planning to head for the summit early tomorrow morning! They’ve done great and it sounds like everyone is feeling good about a summit attempt tomorrow. High camp is at nearly 19,000 ft, so they’ll be moving slowly and feeling the altitude tonight. The camp sits on a…
Another beautiful day on Aconcagua and the team took advantage and climbed up to high camp at over 19,000 ft today. They carried a bit of food to cache, but mostly this climb was about getting some acclimatization and preparing to move up in the next days for a summit attempt. Mark had the honor…
The guys moved up to Camp 2 today in just over 3 1/2 hours of climbing. They are moving really well and everyone is doing great! They enjoyed burgers for dinner tonight and tomorrow plan to use that energy to climb up to high camp for an acclimatization hike. The weather has been great so…